Chapter 142

• Chapter 142: The Balance Within
• SERENA'S POV
• I remain kneeling on the moss-covered forest floor, unmoving as a statue carved from vulnerable flesh. The stillness of the world around me feels unreal, almost surreal in its completeness, like time itself has paused to let me breathe—yet breathing feels like the hardest thing to do right now. My lungs seem to have forgotten their purpose, contracting painfully with each shallow intake of air. Every word she said still echoes in my mind like a riddle I can't solve, fragments of truth too enormous to fully comprehend.